The new platform, Allianz Global Investments Europe, brings the firm’s investment management teams in Paris and Milan under one process. The new investment platform will manage a total of €108bn for both institutional and retail investors across all major asset classes.
“We think proximity and the ability to customise solutions which suit specific client needs will play an ever more important role for clients in Europe as the crisis has pushed some international players to retract into their home markets, whereas the business model of some smaller national investment managers has been challenged,” said CEO Giovanni Bagiotti.
The changes are part of a company-wide move to create a more ‘functional’ structure in order to capture growth opportunities on a pan-European level. This is reflected on the investment side by the creation of the pan-European platform, said Allianz.
The investment process will continue to be long term orientated, combining a macro-economic view with fundamental bottom up analysis of European securities. In addition, the new platform has a sustainable investment process and will employ the firm’s dedicated sustainability investment team to ensure portfolio managers are able to incorporate socially responsible investing (SRI) into investor’s portfolios. The firm currently has approximately €5bn of assets under management in SRI across Europe.
“In the changing capital markets landscape the identification of potential investment risks is of rising significance,” said Allianz CIO Franck Dixmier.
“The systematic reflection of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in the investment process helps investors to assess their risks in a holistic way. AllianzGI Investments Europe is further expanding its sustainability research capabilities enabling our portfolio managers to take into account non-financial criteria for their investment decisions.”
